Family planning participants down

Family planning participants down

Bogor (JP): The Bogor mayor has complained that the current
economic crisis has reduced the participants of the family
planning program in the area.

Speaking at a family planning meeting organized by the
military here on Thursday, Ishwara Natanagara, the Bogor mayor,
said that the economic crisis had rendered many participants
unable to buy contraceptives.

"New participants have also decreased. Therefore, we demand
that family planning services for poor people are given free of
charge," he said.

To make matters worse, the use of condoms is not popular among
men in Bogor, as is the case with most Indonesian men.

The head of Bogor's Coordinating Agency for Family Planning
Nia Syarief said during the meeting that male participants in
Bogor were only 0.08 percent of the total 9,460 new participants
this year.(21)